


A Secret Shared

by MerlinFicDriveThru



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Era, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 08:10:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4911901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerlinFicDriveThru/pseuds/MerlinFicDriveThru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Merthur or gen: Arthur was also born with magic. Can be angst or fluff, but I'd really like Arthur and Merlin playing with magic together. Thanks!!</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Secret Shared

Merlin always thought he was the only one with a secret between him and Arthur.

Of course, he knows it’s impossible to know  _everything_ about him, but he’d never expected this.

A quill spun over the table, ink trailing out in the shapes of birds and bugs and monsters. Arthur’s back is to the door, watching them fly through the sunrays.

Watching them with gold in his eyes.

“So, you know, if I was Uther I would be calling you a traitor right now.” Merlin breathes it out, hand still on the door he’d found open.

Arthur jumps and the ink falls everywhere. It splatters on the desk and the floor and against the window. The quills fall, fluttering down soft onto the floor.

“Shit, Merlin.” Arthur’s eyes are wide, his lips white. He’s jumping to his feet, hands already out, mouth forming pleas that don’t quite make it out.

“Arthur.” Merlin tries to calm him with a steady hand. “Arthur, calm down, it’s ok.”

“You can’t tell anyone,” Arthur looked around. “My father already barely tolerates my lenience towards sorcerers as it is.”

Merlin shook his head. No wonder Arthur struggled with telling his father his views on magic. He must be terrified of getting caught and burned alive by his own father.

He couldn’t say that Uther wouldn’t.

“I want to show you something.” Merlin checked the hallway, making sure no servants were wondering through to overhear. “But it’s not safe here. Meet me in the training grounds after dark?”

“Merlin, you’re a servant. It’s highly inappropriate for us to be wondering around alone together.” Arthur’s cheeks turned red, his eyes shifting around the hallway. “And if you have any ideas about blackmail, I’m warning you that I’m pretty good with this.” Arthur waved at the already splattered ink. “I mean, usually.”

Merlin snorted, recalling all the many times he’d saved Arthur’s life. Why hadn’t that jerk saved himself? “Arthur, we’re alone together all the time. I assure you, I’m not trying to blackmail you. I just…”

Merlin thought about Morgana and all that had gone wrong when he’d been hiding his magic from her. How none of it had gone right until he’d told the truth. Of feeling alone. “I want to help.”

Arthur squinted at him, suspicion in the furrow of his brow. He crossed his arms and looked away, taking a few steps towards the window. “Ok, fine. But if you tell anyone…”

Merlin waited for some threat, but Arthur only stood there, staring out at the window, biting his lip.

“Well, I’m not cruel enough to burn an innocent man. So if you tell anyone, just expect that I’ll get scorched.”

“Don’t worry, Arthur. You can trust me.”

“Night at the training grounds then?”

“Yeah.” Merlin frowned, thinking fast. “Just, promise me you won’t think differently of me.”

Arthur turned towards him, fear hiding behind bravado again. “I can’t think any worse of you, Merlin.”

“Just promise, Arthur.”

Arthur fidgeted. “Yeah, ok, fine. Promise.”

Merlin left Arthur wondering if he’d made a mistake.

That night, Merlin paced in the training grounds.

He’d cloaked it in heavy darkness, bringing as much invisibility to them as he could manage.

Arthur wore a cloak that was more attention grabbing than any of his plainer clothes, but Merlin had a feeling the hood gave him an illusion of anonymity. He walked into the ink black air of the training grounds, scowling all the way.

“What is this Merlin?”

“I didn’t want to be seen by anyone else. Anyone looking this way will just see the training grounds in the shadow of the trees.”

“What are you planning?” Arthur snapped, more an order than a question.

“Just… Just watched. I’m going to do something, ok?”

Merlin took a deep breath and formed a light. And another. And another. He made lights until the hovered all around, barely bright enough to illuminate the pair.

“You’re not the only one.”

Arthur gasped. Merlin’s eyes were still glowing gold even as his fingers twitched at his sides.

“You’re a sorcerer?”

“I’m Emrys.”

He knew Arthur would recognize the name, would remember the mumbling among the druids. It was obvious in the widening of his eyes, the way his mouth dropped open just in a subtle show of surprise.

“You’re Emrys? The Emrys that everyone’s always going on about?” Arthur ran his hands through his hair. “Ha, I threatened  _Emrys_ with magic. You must have thought me a fool.”

“I’m not… I mean, I am Emrys, as I said, but I’m more Merlin.”

“More Merlin?” Arthur looked at him incredulously.

“Watch.” Merlin’s eyes glowed again.

The lights shifted, reformed. He made them birds, bugs, and monsters. The fluttered around the two of them, dancing and flying in the dark. “See? Just Merlin.”

Merlin smiled when Arthur formed a light, this one brighter and smaller than the others. “Ok, just Merlin. Teach me some of your tricks.”


End file.
